Privilege

I am a person 
Privileged at that, 
No one hides their kids when they look at me, 
They do not stop me from entering the bathroom that I believe is mine to enter, 
They do not stop me from kissing a loved one in public, 
Because we have the same sex organs, 
Even if I decide to refrain from appearing in public, 
They do not stop me from being with someone I call my life partner. 

I do not fear for my life 
When I exit my house, 
Based on a prejudice that ceased to make sense a long time ago. 

I do not get called names because I don't fit in, 
In a world that they have decided is theirs to own, 
No place is inaccessible to me, 
they have not decided that I am incapable of doing something, 
Because I lack a capability that is apparently their definition of normal. 

I haven't had to flee a place I call home, 
Throwing away every ounce of familiarity to then just not belong. 
I am a woman, so of course, it comes with its own set of caveats. 

However, I still am privileged 
To not even fathom what some of these people have accepted as a way of life, 
What they have gone through, 
What generations before them have gone through, 
How it passes on to how they speak, how they live. 

So go on, tell me, if none of this is you, 
And you still think you are not privileged, 
Then may your life and soul be saved, 
You may have a world that seems perfect to you, 
To couch your happy sense of ego, 
But before you sleep at night, 
In your cozy bed that does not know such pain, 
I hope you feel slightly uncomfortable, 
When I remind you, 
It has come at a cost, 
And that cost is bloody, 
Of lives you cannot count nor account for, 
And hopefully one day, 
They too shall know how it feels, 
What a normal life actually means.